Zebette

We only have two budgies, they are recent additions to our family. Our blue boy is named Luigi and our pure white one is called Ray. My son named them so no special connections. I must say..have never met anyone else with a budgie named Ray! LOL

No son didn't like that even though I thought it sounded great with Luigi. I was hoping for either a spooky name (as he is a ghostly white colour) or another italian name to go with Luigi (but NOT Mario!) I have been covering the cage at night but thanks for the tip about part covering during the day as well, will see how they go tomorrow with that. Nope they can't poop in. I think i will change over to different style water feeder at some stage but I think they are okay for now, definitely saw them eating today but haven't seen them drink. They seem to be staying at the very top of the cage on the perch there. Will they come down eventually and explore the rest of the cage?

Little update: They seem to be settling in well, they are currently eating some seed as they didn't seem to have eaten before now..I moved the seed dish up higher near to where their preferred perch is and they are both munching away now. They are giving lots of chirps and whistles and seem quite content but still nervous which is to be expected at this early stage. Blue boy has now been named "Luigi" and we're still trying to get the right name for the white boy. My son Joe has spent loads of time sitting on his bed reading out loud to them which is awesome reading practise for him and a great way for the budgies to get used to his voice more.

Well here they are...no names as yet but Joe is just smitten with them. They are apparently about 7-8 months old, so a little older than we planned but so beautiful that Joe couldn't resist and hopefully both boys..well obviously the blue one is but son really wanted an all white budgie so I didn't know how the cere is affected if they are albino though the owner swore it was a male so I trusted him. Any confirmation would be great. Blue is a little more scared at this stage, and White has given a few lovely chirps so far and seem the bolder of the two. We also bought an iodine bell and they came home in a little travel cage which is a perfect size for two.

Thanks for the advice all, we have a excited little boy here today! I will definitely be changing the perches over. We have a bottlebrush and a wattle tree in the back garden...will those be okay for natural perches? Also someone mentioned iodine..what is this and what does it do. Will have to google. Kaz - thanks for the cere tip. Whilst the store we are buying the birds from is not a "pet" shop with inexperienced kids behind the counter it will be nice to be able to check it properly. The shop we are getting them from is a specialised bird place, they have been around since I was a little girl, my Dad used to buy his aviary birds there. They know their stuff, and have a massive range of bird products and aviaries etc so I would think they should be able to tell a male from a female budgie...but like I said..always good for us to have the knowledge just in case! LOL

Well tomorrow we plan to welcome 2 budgies into our house. Our son, Joe, has been after a budgie for nearly a year now and we have agreed, and it's all coming out of his money. We have just bought this stand and cage today... We also bought the seed catcher around the bottom, some cuttlefish, some millet sprays, the toy that can be seen dangling and some seed that the budgies at the bird store are already eating. We know we need to change the perches to go front to back, an put some newspaper on the grill above the plastic tray. Are we missing anything else that we need to start with? We'll be buying two birds from the store tomorrow (it was too hot here to bring them home today due to their policy) it worked out well though as it gave us a chance to set up things here. We are going to get two males and hope they will be happy in this cage. It is 76cm wide x 45cm deep x 90cm high. I know budgies prefer length to height but we think that maybe one day in the future we may like a cockatiel so decided to get a big cage now so we won't need to in the future..plus I like the idea of he budgies having as much room as they can. Is there anything else we need to consider? Vitamins,minerals..worming products etc?

Melave that looks like a great cage....I am going to put that large one on the list of possibles for my son as we are in the process of cage shopping at the moment. He will love that he could potentially have 4 budgies in there..although I think I would only let him have 2 to start with anyhow. I love that it comes with the seed catcher as well. Does anyone know if that would suit cockatiels (in the future) and if so how many? I know son would really love a cockatiel one day so I am aiming to buy a cage that would suits budgies for now, and eventually in years to come a cockatiel or two.

Thanks guys. Squeak- Is this the Cheap as Chips cage you mean? I did have a look in my local store yesterday but they didn't have any despite it saying they were "in stock" but while the price was good I wondered if the one in my other link would be better as it is 76cm which gives them that bit more room. I know Liv has some cages for sale so waiting to hear back what she has available and also planning to visit Camsal Aviaries to see what cages/prices they have. Are there any bird supply places you would recommend checking out north of the city Squeak? (or ones to avoid!?)

Thanks Kaz, will this do for two birds comfortably, or more birds even? I am so paranoid about not giving them enough room and I would hate to have them be miserable. I was leaning towards this cage over the first cage I posted as I recalled reading wider was better.

Hi all, Am new to the forum and currently looking at cages to house a budgie or two, to go in my son's bedroom. I was at the local pet shop this morning and saw this cage and wondered whether that would be suitable (with all the ramps and levels removed) as we actually already have this cage...but we use it for a spare rat cage when we have foster rats in. The bar spacing on the one at the shop was about 12mm. I was just wondering if it would be suitable or is there something better we could be looking at getting. How many budgies would a cage that size hold comfortably? Thanks for any advice. ETA: I have also on the same site just seen this one..would this be better along with the matching stand? Again how many budgies would be comfortable? I am only really looking to get two budgies at this stage but if more would technically fit that would be great as I know then it would be more than roomy enough just for two. They wouldn't outgrow it or anything would they?

Thanks for the welcome, have spent much of the afternoon reading through threads here and googling away..I think I have overwhelmed myself a bit. Would the "Bringing Home A New Budgie" be the best section for all my newbie questions about what to feed, size of cage and best place to buy from? I would prefer to avoid pet shops if there is a breeder nearby.

Hi all, We have yet to purchase our first budgies, or even a cage at this point but I thought this looked like a great forum to sign up with and get information to make sure we are heading in the right direction with any future purchases. My 7 year old son has been asking for about a year now for a budgie, and we think he has proven himself more than responsible to finally become the owner of one (with close parental supervision/help of course) so I am here to read, learn and make good informed choices in regards to becoming budgie owners. I did have a budgie in my teens but that was quite some time ago so I am feeling like a complete beginner again.